Thursday, February 19, 2009
John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
JESUS' WORD HAS POWER, WHOEVER SPEAKS IT
Jesus' Word is powerful to change hearts. But it isn't just the direct speaking of Jesus that holds power. His Words are powerful, no matter who speaks them.
It doesn't take much reading in the Bible to find out that the people that God concerns Himself with are not remarkable people. Often they are guilty of sins that we would look down upon with a self-righteous eye.
Jacob was a liar and a thief. Moses a murderer. King David a fornicator. Peter was a racist. Paul persecuted people violently because of their religion.
God didn't choose these people to be His own because their souls were shinier than the souls of others. Christianity isn't about remarkable people sought out and found by God -- like hidden pearls in a sin dirtied world. Christianity is about sinners made remarkable by the cleansing blood of God's own Son.
It's been said, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." We don't come to Him clean, we come dirty. Sinful. Doomed. He takes our sin away. He declares us clean by His Son's sacrifice. And then He begins to actually clean up the messes of sin in our lives.
The Samaritan woman didn't have a great reputation in her village. Jesus pointed out her sins to her quite strongly. No doubt others knew of them also. But it was she who left her water jar by the well and went to bring others to His feet. "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (John 4:29).
She carried the word of Jesus to the village. She did. And they believed.
